Media Emerging

The housing market may be in a mess, but there’s one real estate sector that’s still busy: social media real estate.

For weeks, I’ve been wrangling for control of PRstore’s username at the top social media sites. The username “prstore” is available at some, taken at others, which makes consistent presentation of the PRstore brand tricky. I was finally scored victories at YouTube and Twitter, but not without some artful negotiation and maneuvering.

Gaining control of your social media real estate matters to every company. Here’s a quick rundown of the what’s at stake:

The Challenge

Suppose you’re Joe Smith and you want to set up a Flickr account. Only the Flickr username JoeSmith is already taken. You settle on JoeSmith1974 and head over to Twitter, only to find the name @JoeSmith1974 is unavailable. You snag the name JoeSmith, but over at Mashable, neither of your first two choices is available. Here, you go by JosephSmith74.

And on and on it goes.

When you’re a company, your name isn’t just a word; it’s part of your brand, a brand your customers interact with regularly. Consistent presentation of your brand is key to building brand awareness.

PRstore corporate would like to own the username “prstore” at established and emerging social media sites. So, for example, we’d like to own or control these accounts:

http://www.flickr.com/prstore
http://www.youtube.com/prstore
http://www.mashable.com/prstore

But as I’ll explain later, our desire to own these usernames is sometimes undermined by employees, franchises and squatters.

Why It Matters

• SERPs. Sites that have a targeted keyword in the URL(in this case, “prstore”)  tend to rank highly in search results. Each account PRstore owns is one more page whose message is consistent with ours. We’d like these pages to rank as high as possible in the search results.
• Brand Consistency. We don’t want to be seen as “PRstore” on one site, “PRstore 1” on another, and “PRstore LLC” on another. Most social media sites let you choose what name you’ll present to the public. Still, better to create a consistent brand experience across all platforms.
• Simplicity. Remembering half a dozen usernames is a pain in the neck.

Roadblocks

There’s no other PRstore in the world, so you’d think claiming the username “prstore” would be easy, right? Think again. With 30-plus franchises and the typical coming and going of employees, that prime real estate is often snagged before corporate HQ knows it exists. Here are some of the roadblocks:

Weak/Non-existent Social Media Strategy

Like many firms, PRstore is learning social media strategy by trial-and-error. We experiment, in part, so we can advise future clients of best practices. As a result, we sometimes rush to a new social media site with little thought toward a username real estate strategy.

Franchises

With more than 30 franchise owners nationwide, plus store employees and corporate staff, PRstore’s brand isn’t easy to control. Most folks in PRstore Nation are brand enthusiasts, but we need to do a better job explaining the best uses of the PRstore name in URLs, usernames and profiles.

The Twitter account @PRstore and the YouTube channel “PRstore” were both set up by energetic franchisees eager to promote their stores. It took several weeks of investigation to identify the owners of those profiles, negotiate their release, and help the affected stores re-create their social media presence.

Squatters

In the Web’s early days, cyber-squatters registered the domain names of well-known companies, hoping to strike it rich. Now, speculators register private sector usernames on social media sites. PRstore doesn’t have this problem yet, but we’re a growing company. It’s just a matter of time before someone sets up camp under our flag.

Strategy

A little forethought can help you avoid serious social media headaches down the road. Here are a few tips:

• Choose a Username. A unique company name might be available at every site. If your company name is a common one, though, consider a variation that is more likely to be available. If all else fails, try a unique personal username; you can always get your company name visible in other ways.
• Build a Social Media Target List. Rather than chasing every MySpace, Mebo and Orkut that pops up, do some research. Choose social media platforms that make sense for you and fit your marketing goals. Compile a list first – we’ll worry about creating accounts later.
• Check Username Availability. If you want to present yourself to the world as ABC Company, you’ll be competing with dozens of other ABC Company’s for online real estate. Review your target site list and conduct a search to see if your preferred username is available at each site.
• Create an Account. Once you’re confident your username is available at most of your target sites, go ahead and create an accounts. You’ll want to create a complete profile at each site, too, with strong descriptions and relevant keywords woven in.
• Review. When a new social media site attracts your attention, revisit your real estate strategy before creating an account. Is the whimsical username you’re about to create without a second thought consistent with your other usernames? Slowing down at the start could save you countless hours later.

Of course, locking up your social media real estate is just one part of a comprehensive marketing plan. But in marketing, as in real estate, it’s still about location, location, location.

I got a great email from a prospective PRstore franchisee this week, and thought I’d share it with you:

I’d like to know more about how you use Twitter. Do you have a Twitter strategy? What are your typical Tweet tactics? How do you measure Twitter success? What are your Twitter goals and how do they support or fit into the PRStore marketing strategy? I’m curious about the corporate goals for Twitter, blogs and social media, and even SEO. Do you focus on awareness and penetration to attract new franchisee prospects or is your focus to increase awareness of the "storefront" brand and ultimately reach that customer "sweet spot" of 11-100 employee businesses? Or both? If both, what percentage breakdown?

Wow. Great questions! These are questions not just for PRstore, but also for anyone using Twitter and other social media. Let’s see if I can answer some of them:

Do you have a Twitter strategy?

Yes. My strategy is a bit fluid, of course; it evolves as I experiment. In fact, experimentation is part of my Twitter strategy. Still, I try to follow broad guidelines: Provide something of value. Be authentic. Ease up on the self-promotion. Nurture relationships. Help others. Don’t be afraid to show some personality. Be interesting.

More specifically, I try to align my Twitter strategy with a few corporate goals. More on that later…

What are your typical Tweet tactics?

My Tweets typically come in one of five flavors:

1. Links to my blog posts
2. Links to insightful blog posts by other authors
3. Questions or ideas to prompt discussion
4. @replies to questions/ideas posted by other Twitterers
5. Inane ramblings

There are other Tweets, of course, but these five cover most of my contributions. I stick to these tactics because they’re the right tactics for building relationships, which I consider my most important Twitter goal.

For more info on the types of conversations happening in the social media arena, check out this post by @93octane.

What are your Twitter goals? How do they fit into the PRstore marketing strategy?

Before we can talk about Twitter goals, check out my social media to-do list.

I like Twitter for its conversational nature, the connections between users, and the information sharing it enables. These traits make Twitter an effective tool for building relationships and relaying PRstore messages to new audiences.

Like a press release or a postcard, though, Twitter is just a tool. A good marketing plan uses a combination of tools, and matches the tool to the task. Twitter is just one part of PRstore’s marketing and communications program.

Do you focus on attracting new franchisees or boosting in-store sales?

PRstore is unique among marketing firms in that our success depends not just on attracting and selling to clients, but also on selling new PRstore franchises.

In-store sales make our stores profitable. Revenue from franchise sales is critical to our corporate profitability. Ultimately, our marketing efforts must reflect both needs.

With a limited advertising budget and competing priorities, achieving all of our marketing goals is no simple task. Our social media program is a pressure valve, of sorts, giving us low-cost channels to promote both agendas and to experiment with messaging.

Twitter has already proven helpful in building PRstore’s brand awareness and attracting interest from potential franchisees. Has it boosted in-store sales? We simply don’t know yet. Finding a way to answer that question is definitely on our to-do list, though.

How do you measure Twitter success?

This is the biggie. As I see it, “How do you measure ROI?” is the #1 question for social media. How do you measure the value of conversations?

I’m not good with numbers, so here’s a list of some of the successes in which Twitter played a role:

• Pushing our blog content further downstream and to new audiences via Twitterfeed
• Building brand awareness for PRstore
• Positioning PRstore staff as experts in marketing, PR, media relations, social media, etc.
• Idea sharing with others in the PR & marketing industry
• Establishing connections with journalists that may lead to publicity opportunities for our clients and PRstore
• Connecting with potential franchisees
• Answering questions about what PRstore is and what we do

This is just a start, but you get the idea.

Is Twitter worth the investment? That depends…what’s the investment? My time? I’m sure our bean counters could tell you whether it’s worth the time. Me? I’m looking long-term. If I’m still here in three years, I guess we’ll know the answer.